Restlessness: Finding a Cure for Restless Mind Syndrome
The fact that you have landed on this page implies that you have been confronted with the frustrating experience of being restless lately. Restlessness has slowly managed to penetrate deep into our lives. As per the experts, the reasons are plenty. It could be the overwhelming amount of options that we have at our disposal in all domains of our lives, perhaps the sedentary lifestyle might have been making you restless, or probably it is the lack of connection with Mother Nature that is manifesting itself in the form of restlessness. Whatever the reason, the experience is frustrating to its very core.
Simply put, the restless mind syndrome is an overwhelmed state of mind where it struggles with keeping up with the things to do, the thoughts which run through it, the decisions and choices to be made out of a myriad of options, etc. It is like a twitch that makes your mind jump from one topic to another in such a disorganized fashion that it fails to accomplish any single one of them. The restless mind syndrome is perhaps the hardest blow to your overall productivity on a day to day basis.
The worst part is that restlessness puts into action a vicious cycle that sabotages the quality of life in the long run. With a restless mind, it is next to impossible to accomplish any of your tasks up to perfection. The failure to get your job done in time further fuels restlessness and it goes on and on. But being the one who experienced it first-hand, you are certainly not here to find out what it is. You came here looking for answers to what is it that you can do to fix your restless mind and that’s exactly what we are going to cater you with. Read along and find out the top, evidence-based, tried and tested strategies that can cure restlessness for you once and for all.
Make It Sound Less Scary For The Mind
As stated earlier, restlessness stems from an overwhelmed state of mind. As such, wouldn’t you say that the thought of working towards and achieving your life goals has the potential to overwhelm you the most from time to time? The primary reason is that more often than not, we try to keep our goals larger than life. There is nothing wrong with that since you have always been told that the bigger your vision, the greater will be your achievement. But there is a downside to it as it puts your mind at the risk of being overwhelmed and turns restless on the thought of achieving such gigantic goals.
A simple cure to restlessness[restrict], therefore, would be to try and make it sound less scary for the mind. How would you do that, you ask? All you have to do is break your goal down into smaller and timely achievable objectives. For instance, if you are aiming at scoring high on the MCAT to pursue a career in medicine, instead of keeping your focus on the MCAT score that you have to achieve, break it down into a small objective of spending five to six hours on uninterrupted studying on a daily basis. This will help you trick your mind into keeping its calm knowing that the routine objectives are being achieved rather than putting it at the risk of being overwhelmed with the ultimate task to be accomplished. Once this sense of fear is ruled out, the restlessness begins to find its way out of your mind.
Multitasking Is Not A Virtue
We understand you want to yell on us for having this unorthodox opinion. In this era of excessive competition, multitasking is favored rather worshipped specifically in the corporate sector. But have you ever taken a step back to see if it’s as big of virtue as you are being told or do you just take whatever is being fed to it for granted?
The point being, if you try to compartmentalize your mind at all times with each of these compartments focusing on a different task, it naturally increases the likelihood of putting your mind at the risk of being overwhelmed owing to all of the information that it is required to process simultaneously. As a consequence, you will end up being restless with a constant itch going inside your head.
As evident, in order to remedy, all you have to do is let go of the idea of multitasking and focus on organizing yourself and the tasks that you are required to accomplish in a day. Make a list of these tasks in an order of priority and then start working on them, one at a time. Give all of your attention and focus to a single task and keep the rest of them out of your mind unless the first one has been accomplished satisfactorily.
Journaling Never Fails
Here’s a thought. Our previous generations were more used to journaling than we are. More often than not, we put the blame for it to the busier lives that we lead than our forefathers. But wouldn’t you say that the previous generations were perhaps more content, happier, peaceful, and a lot less restless? Chances are that you wouldn’t be able to find research that says journaling enabled them to relish all of it, but it isn’t unfair to keep the possibility in mind that it played some role.
The answer lies in understanding how the human mind works. Perhaps not always, but the majority of times, all that your mind is looking for is to get all of its unnecessary thoughts out so that it can make some room for the more productive elements. It’s like clearing up the cache on your mobile phone to make it perform optimally in terms of efficiency. Journaling provides an impeccable opportunity to do the same for your mind.
The next time you are overwhelmed and can’t get rid of restlessness, try sitting with yourself in a peaceful environment with a piece of paper and a pen. Start documenting all of your thoughts, worries, concerns, problems which may have been contributing to making you restless. Once you have enlisted and discussed your relevant thoughts in a journal, all of it will be out of your system, quite literally, enabling you to cure your restless mind.
Ever Heard Of The Word “NO”
So we have established thus far that the primary reason why you are restless is that you have so much on your plate than what your mind agrees on handling. If you think about it, a prominent reason why you have this much on your plate that you are failing to process is that you never realized the importance of saying “No”. You are working on a report at work. You know it’s going to take you by the end of the day to complete writing this report. And yet when your boss drops by and asks you to make a presentation on someone else’s behalf for tomorrow morning, you don’t have it in you to elaborate on your position and how you already have enough work to handle. You are exhausted after a tiresome day at work and yet you can’t tell your girlfriend that you’ll take her shopping some other day. You need to take a nap to refresh your batteries but you wouldn’t tell your friend that you’ll see to his or her relationship problem later.
The cure to restlessness, therefore, lies in bolstering your ability to say “NO” without having to feel guilty about it. Stop treating everyone as a celebrity and take care of yourself first. If you already have enough on your plate, or simply because something isn’t your responsibility and you are in no mood to handle it, speak it up. If you continue to take on what’s not your responsibility, you are destined to be overwhelmed and ultimately be a victim of restlessness.
Choose Your People Wisely
It is more than likely that you don’t naturally have a negative vibe. You don’t overthink stuff and try to see the silver lining at all times. But then there are people who would cross your path from time to time who would plant the seed of negativity into your mind. What’s stunning is that they don’t have to do anything more than talking to you for a few minutes in order to drown you in an ocean of negativity. The people who would probably call you on your insecurities, bully you for your shortcomings in the name of joking, and highlight every little thing that’s wrong in your life. Once you are surrounded by such negativity in the air, can you blame your mind for being restless?
This is a lesson in the importance of choosing your people wisely. Remember that whomsoever you choose to spend time with has a stark effect on your mental health. Choose to be a part of the social circle that is uplifting, encouraging, empowering, supporting, and you would surely be able to unleash your true potential. Spend some time with people with a negative vibe and your mind will eventually refuse to be on your side and be restless to make it increasingly frustrating for you.
Make Time For Yourself
Making time for yourself or taking care of yourself is a concept that is multifold. It includes adopting hygienic practices, keeping a balanced diet, working out on a regular basis, expressing your emotions, indulging in things and activities that you love, practicing meditation and mindfulness, and a lot more. Whatever it is that makes you feel happier and healthier is absolutely worth your while.
A simple principle applies here. The better you take care of your mind and body, the better it will reciprocate the same to you. If you are putting a deliberate effort into maintaining your mental health, your mind will do its level best to avoid restlessness as well. Simply put, try not to be lost in the hassle of life. Make it a habit to find at least some time as part of your routine that you can spend on your own well-being.
Another prominent factor that can help avoid restlessness specifically when you are working is removing the distractions. For instance, it’s common for us to keep looking at our phones and scrolling through the social platforms after every few minutes while you are working. Removing such distractions, putting your phone on airplane mode, and stopping yourself from checking notifications can go a long way in curing restless mind syndrome.
Conclusion
In the light of the information mentioned above, it is fair to conclude that the restless mind syndrome is every bit as serious to put any effort into finding a solution owing to how drastically does it obliterate your quality of life. There is so much that you can accomplish in your life but a restless mind is creating a barricade for realizing your true potential. The good news, however, is that there are a few simple strategies that you can start using from today and fix restlessness for you once and for all. We have thoroughly highlighted these tips, how do these help, and why are these effective in serving the purpose in order to help you make an informed decision about putting an effort into finding a way out of restlessness. As such, we have done our part in putting the information at your disposal, now it’s your turn to use it and climb your way out of restlessness that has been preventing you from achieving your true potential.[/restrict]
